Polish industrial group Industria has signed a letter of intent with UK-based zero emissions energy and technology developer Chiltern Vital Group to collaborate on the deployment of Rolls-Royce small modular reactors in Poland.

"Compared to the larger, conventional nuclear power plants, SMRs have several advantages — such as shorter construction time schedules, enhanced safety features and a sounder appeal to private investors thanks to their lower initial costs and shorter development timelines," the commission added.

The small modular reactor (SMR) is a water-cooled RITM-200N 55 MW reactor that has been adapted from the RITM-200 series used to power Russia's latest fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers. It will be built near Ust-Kuyga in Yakutia (also known as Sakha) in Russia's Arctic north, with the aim of commissioning in 2028.

The European Commission set up a European SMR pre-Partnership in June last year with the overall objective of identifying enabling conditions and constraints,

In June 2022, SaskPower selected the BWRX-300 as the technology to be used in its SMR development work for potential deployment in the mid-2030s after considering several SMR technologies. The company said it had identified two areas in the province of Saskatchewan – Estevan and Elbow as possible sites.

Nuclear advocates have pushed for SMRs for more than a decade, but so far Russia is the only country to put them into commercial use.

The Commission set up a European SMR pre-Partnership in June with the overall objective of identifying enabling conditions and constraints, including financial ones, towards safe design, construction and operation of SMRs in Europe in the next decade and beyond in compliance with the EU legislative framework in general and to the Euratom legislative framework in particular.

Many oil and gas, drilling, and extraction operations take place in remote locations, and in many cases, it is not possible for these processes to be fuelled by electricity from the grid. It is here that microreactors (MRs) or small modular reactors (SMRs) could provide a low carbon alternative.

The SMR Alliance includes 11 government and public institutions, including the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE), Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) and the Korea Energy Economics Institute, as well as 31 companies, including GS Energy, SK Inc, Samsung C&T, Daewoo E&C and Doosan Enerability.

Rosatom said that the design met "all post-Fukushima safety requirements for the modern NPP design - this is a compact modular nuclear power plant, featuring reduced construction time compared with large nuclear power plants".